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Baseball America has a nice article up today on Louisville's top four relievers - Josh Roenicke, Carlos Fisher, Robert Manuel, and Pedro Viola - with quotes from Rick Sweet.

I'll give little small tidbits on each pitcher since I can't post the article here.

On Roenicke:

Big league stuff. Velocity, curveball, movement, but he lacks experience and consistency.

On Fisher:

Biggest adjustment was moving from starter to reliever. Sweet says he keeps getting better. Has really caught the attention of the organization.

On Manuel:

Doesn't have the stuff of Fisher, Roenicke, or Viola, but he works fast and locates his pitches well. His deceptive motion fools hitters. Nice slider with good movement.

On Viola:

Effortless delivery. Impressive fastball/slider/changeup combo. Like Roenicke, he needs to work on consistency. Can be lights-out in one outing and struggles to find the plate in the next outing. Tremendous stuff. Very tough to hit when he's throwing strikes.

What I find interesting about these four is all of them were position players who switched to the mound just a few years ago. Roenicke played football his freshman year at UCLA. He then joined the baseball team as a sophomore and didn't start pitching until later in his college career. Fisher was also an outfielder in Junior College, then transferred to Lewis-Clark State and became a pitcher. Robert Manuel was a shortstop in Junior College and then transferred to Sam Houston State and started pitching. Pedro Viola was originally signed out of the Dominican Republic as an outfielder and then converted to a pitcher three years ago.

Baseball America has a nice article up today on Louisville's top four relievers - Josh Roenicke, Carlos Fisher, Robert Manuel, and Pedro Viola - with quotes from Rick Sweet.

I'll give little small tidbits on each pitcher since I can't post the article here.

On Roenicke:

Big league stuff. Velocity, curveball, movement, but he lacks experience and consistency.

On Fisher:

Biggest adjustment was moving from starter to reliever. Sweet says he keeps getting better. Has really caught the attention of the organization.

On Manuel:

Doesn't have the stuff of Fisher, Roenicke, or Viola, but he works fast and locates his pitches well. His deceptive motion fools hitters. Nice slider with good movement.

On Viola:

Effortless delivery. Impressive fastball/slider/changeup combo. Like Roenicke, he needs to work on consistency. Can be lights-out in one outing and struggles to find the plate in the next outing. Tremendous stuff. Very tough to hit when he's throwing strikes.

What I find interesting about these four is all of them were position players who switched to the mound just a few years ago. Roenicke played football his freshman year at UCLA. He then joined the baseball team as a sophomore and didn't start pitching until later in his college career. Fisher was also an outfielder in Junior College, then transferred to Lewis-Clark State and became a pitcher. Robert Manuel was a shortstop in Junior College and then transferred to Sam Houston State and started pitching. Pedro Viola was originally signed out of the Dominican Republic as an outfielder and then converted to a pitcher three years ago.

This is why it's so important to look beyond numbers sometimes. We argue, why isn't Roenicke or Fisher in the major leagues yet? We shouldn't forget that all these guys have been pitching in the bullpen for a relatively short period, so the Reds are correctly giving them time. Their time will come.

Baseball America has a nice article up today on Louisville's top four relievers - Josh Roenicke, Carlos Fisher, Robert Manuel, and Pedro Viola - with quotes from Rick Sweet.

I'll give little small tidbits on each pitcher since I can't post the article here.

On Roenicke:

Big league stuff. Velocity, curveball, movement, but he lacks experience and consistency.

On Fisher:

Biggest adjustment was moving from starter to reliever. Sweet says he keeps getting better. Has really caught the attention of the organization.

On Manuel:

Doesn't have the stuff of Fisher, Roenicke, or Viola, but he works fast and locates his pitches well. His deceptive motion fools hitters. Nice slider with good movement.

On Viola:

Effortless delivery. Impressive fastball/slider/changeup combo. Like Roenicke, he needs to work on consistency. Can be lights-out in one outing and struggles to find the plate in the next outing. Tremendous stuff. Very tough to hit when he's throwing strikes.

What I find interesting about these four is all of them were position players who switched to the mound just a few years ago. Roenicke played football his freshman year at UCLA. He then joined the baseball team as a sophomore and didn't start pitching until later in his college career. Fisher was also an outfielder in Junior College, then transferred to Lewis-Clark State and became a pitcher. Robert Manuel was a shortstop in Junior College and then transferred to Sam Houston State and started pitching. Pedro Viola was originally signed out of the Dominican Republic as an outfielder and then converted to a pitcher three years ago.

Also, Viola was noted to have a "special" arm and great endurance, no one likes to catch him because he throws so hard. And Fisher is getting the attention of the organization because on top of his talent he consistently gives you a quality outing. I guess that means Fisher is likely the next in line to see the bigs. Viola and Roenicke are further away but look to be quite exceptional. Looks too me like 3 potential high leverage arms and a solid middle relief guy.

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